About

About Sen McGlinn + Sonja van Kerkhoff

Sen McGlinn, 2012

Sen McGlinn (Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand, 1956) is of English and Irish descent and is a fifth and second generation New Zealand born Pākehā.
In the 1980s he lived in the Hauraki gulf on a boat he had built himself. His first book of poetry was published in 1977 (>> More about his poetry). Then he studied English literature and theology in Dunedin before moving to the Netherlands in 1989 where he still lives with his partner Sonja van Kerkhoff, who is also an artist in residence at the Rotorua ArtVillage. They have two adult sons, Toroa and Tamatea. Later he did a masters in Islamic Studies at Leiden University and this link is to some of his translations of Perisan poetry. Sen started working with Sonja on various art projects from the early 90s onwards and has also exhibited his independently made projects since 1992. Sen’s sculptures have been made in the U.K. Romania, France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands. This will be his first sculpture project in Aotearoa.

For other projects see > www.sonjavank.com/sensonja

Dec 2012-Jan 2013 – Rotorua ArtVillage (RAVE) Art Residency
>> Sen McGlinn – Sculpture for community spirit
>> Sonja van Kerkhoff – Art for Orientation

Sonja van Kerkhoff 2012

Sonja van Kerkhoff (Hawera, Taranaki, Aotearoa/New Zealand, 1960) is of Dutch, Scottish and Irish descent. On her father’s side she is a first generation New Zealand born Pākehā and on her mother’s second and fifth generation. She studied at the Otago School of Arts in Dunedin (1982) and moved to The Netherlands in 1989, gaining a masters equivalent from the Maastricht Academy of Arts (1993), and later a MSc. in Media Technology (2008) at Leiden university. She started working in performance and video in the early 90s. Later she worked as a multimedia designer for Dutch Educational Broadcasting for 8 years making anything from a simple website to games to designing dvd covers.
She has been exhibiting her installations, sculptures, paintings, prints, drawings, photography, and performing at festivals, since the mid 1980s. She also taught art and art history in high school in the mid 1980s and these days regularly gives lectures at art schools on contemporary art in diverse media. Often Sen McGlinn and her work on projects together. Links to Sonja’s art website or a list sorted by media.